“We try to have dinner like every six weeks or something and the last couple of times that we had dinner he was talking very openly with me about it,” Kathie Lee told Access Hollywood about how she knew Regis was ready to retire. “He said, ‘I think it’s going to be at the end of this contract year,’ which would be September 2011, so that’s exactly what it’s going to be.”

Regis turns 80 in August and Kathie Lee says it will only be the star of many good things to come in his career!

“He’s going to have a landmark birthday in August, It’s a new beginning for him… I don’t think Reg will ever retire,” she explained. “He loves what he does so much. But he can work in a lot of different ways and he can do it on his own schedule.

“You get tired of the sameness of something and as we age, you get tired of having to be on someone else’s schedule all the time,” she said. “And even though he lives across the street from the studio, sometimes I know winters get to him I think he would rather be in sunny Florida or California and I’ve got a feeling he’s got some stuff up his sleeve.”

And even if he doesn’t have something planned, Kathie Lee is certain he’ll be receiving a lot of job offers!

“There’s a million things Reg can do, there are going to be tons and tons of offers for him,” she said. “He’s still hot as pistol! How many people – except for Betty White – can say that in their ‘80s?!”